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Exclusive | Akshay Oberoi and Heli Daruwala to lead Arvind Pandey's suspense thriller; Dehradun shoot begins February 27
Arvind Pandey will shoot with actors Akshay Oberoi, Heli Daruwala, Kabir Duhan Singh, Agni Agyari, Manu Rishi Chadha, Kuldeep Bhargava Tushar & Santosh Shukla
Actor Akshay Oberoi is all set to commence shooting for his next film, stepping into the role of the protagonist during a schedule in Dehradun at the end of this month.
HT City has exclusively learned that the actor, who will soon be seen in high-profile projects such as Yash’s Toxic and Shah Rukh Khan's King, will begin filming from February 27.
The film is being directed by Arvind Pandey, who previously helmed Ishq Pashmina (2022), which marked the debut of Malti Chahar and Bhavin Bhanushali. “The film will be shot in Uttarakhand in a start-to-end schedule. It’s a suspense thriller blended with a courtroom drama and dramatic romance. The film’s working title is Love Lottery, but we are yet to lock it and will be announcing it soon,” says the director, who has also penned the lyrics for the project.
Joining Akshay in this venture are actors Heli Daruwala, Kabir Duhan Singh, Agni Agyari, Manu Rishi Chadha, Kuldeep Bhargava ‘Tushar’, Santosh Shukla, and Indra Krishnan. The story has been written by Ankur Khatri, while Arvind is handling the musical composition alongside Varun Mishra.
“We have chosen the cast very meticulously and all are very powerful actors. Interestingly, since it’s a suspense-thriller, the characters have all kinds of shades – you won’t be able to judge who is black or white. At the moment, we won’t be able to reveal more than this,” says the director.
The film also stars actors Hemant Pandey, Kumar Saurabh, Vikram Sharma, Arshep Ssandhu and Ashwant Lodhi.
He had earlier announced the feature film Antim Fhansi with Sanjay Mishra, which he hopes to go on floors later this year. “Yes, we made an announcement with Sanjay ji and the film is probably with a different title. We will shoot the film in Lucknow this year-end. But, before that, I am doing a project with Santosh (Shukla) in April that too in Uttar Pradesh.”
Arvind's current film also holds a strong hometown connection for him. "Myself, actors Santosh and Vikram, writer Ankur, composer Varun and Kuldeep, who is producing the project under Cinema Ganj Films and also acting, are all from Lucknow. The film is set in Dehradun, but interestingly, Akshay's family side in the story hails from Lucknow. Like, Ishq Pashmina was shot in Himachal Pradesh, but we did a schedule here as well, so the city had to figure somewhere for sure," he says on a signing-off note.
